410 



CYPRIN1DE. 



In its nature the Chub is timid, frequenting deep holes in 

 the more quiet parts of the sides of the stream, and sheltering 

 itself generally under or near any bush or tree that will 

 screen it from view. It feeds on worms, and on insects in 

 their various stages ; and is mostly caught by anglers with a 

 fly or other bait at the surface of the water, by a mode of 

 fishing called dibbing. The Thames anglers for Chub 

 " cause themselves to be landed on an ait in the river, from 

 the banks of which, under the shelter of the willows, with a 

 long rod, a short line, and a lively cockchafer, they often 

 have good sport." The insect used as bait, whatever it 

 happens to be, whether large moth or Cockchafer, hangs 

 pendent from the point of the rod, just touching the water ; 

 and by repeatedly but gently tapping the butt-end of the 

 rod, the bait is moved in a manner exactly resembling the 

 struggles of a living insect that had by accident fallen into 

 the water. 



Mr. Jesse says of the Chub, detained with other fish where 

 their actions could be noticed, that they were always restless 

 and shy, but could never resist a cockchafer when thrown to 

 them. 



The Chub spawns about the end of April or the beginning 

 of May, but does not acquire a large size ; five pounds' 

 weight is the most that I can find recorded. It is considered 

 a coarse fish, and broiling with the scales on is one of the 

 best modes of preparing it for table. 



Skelly with its reference to scales, belongs, par excellence, to the Chub, whose 

 scales are large, opake, and strong, like those of a Carp ; the scales of the 

 Gwyniad, on the contrary, are thin, semitransparent, and flexible, like those of 

 a Herring. Moreover, the talented author of " Rambles in Northumberland, 

 and on the Scottish Border," who is good authority as a native of Northumber- 

 land, a scholar, an antiquary, and an angler, says at page 171 of the work 

 above named, " Whitlings (young Sea Trout) are caught in the Liddelin June 

 and July ; and it also contains a kind of Chub, similar to the fish, which, in 

 the Eden, at Carlisle, is called a Skelly." 

 See the article " Chub," in Mr. Hofland's British Angler's Manual, p. 153. 



